You may soon be able to cross one more prediction of science fiction off the list. Sony has just filed a patent application for a smart contact lens that can not only record video and images but play them back for you as well. The patent even suggests that the video and images would be stored directly in the contact lens itself, with the option to download the images and movies to a smart phone. That’s what separates the Sony patent from one recently obtained by Samsung in South Korea for a similar device. The Samsung lens doesn’t feature on-board storage.

The patent hasn’t been approved yet, but it describes describes the lens as being capable of taking photos using eyeblinks as a trigger. It’s supposed to be able to tell the difference between an autonomic eye blink and one you meant to do consciously. The playback display is to be controlled by what they describe as a “tilt sensor”. The lens may even feature aperture control, autofocus and image stabilization to address the blur caused by the eyeball’s motion.

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Have you read Sean Williams' SF trilogy? The first is called Jump(or maybe Crashland over there). In it, you get a contact lens inserted at birth which enables you to access the Internet(called the Air in this trilogy).

Frankly, this new patent would scare me, mainly because it's bad enough all those idiots walking and driving with their phones going, without having people walking down the street(or driving!) while watching a video instead of focusing on the road or other people. ;-)